Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Dragging, trailing: Describes something that is long and moves or extends in a way that seems to drag on the ground or continue for a long, often tedious, distance or duration. It implies a sense of excessive, wearying length.
   • Protracted, long-drawn-out: Used to describe time, speech, or events that feel excessively long, slow, and monotonous.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Chiếc áo dài của cô ấy trắng và lê thê trên sàn. (Her áo dài was white and dragging/trailing on the floor.)
  • Buổi họp lê thê từ sáng đến tối. (The meeting dragged on from morning till night.)
  • Câu chuyện của ông ấy kể lê thê không có hồi kết. (His story was told in a long, drawn-out manner with no end.)

Advanced Usage

• "Dài lê thê": A very common fixed phrase meaning "very long and tedious," often used to describe physical length, time, or speech.
  • Con đường về quê dài lê thê. (The road back to the hometown is very long and seemingly endless.)
• Used to evoke a feeling of boredom, exhaustion, or slight annoyance due to the excessive length or slowness of something.

Variants and Related Words

• Lê (verb): To drag, to pull along the ground. "Lê thê" is derived from this verb, intensifying the sense of dragging.
• Dài dòng (adj): Long-winded, verbose (often for speech or writing). Similar in conveying tedious length but less focused on physical dragging.
• Thòng lọng (adj): Hanging down loosely, dangling. Shares the visual of something extending downward but lacks the "dragging" motion.

Synonyms

• Kéo dài: To prolong, to last a long time.
• Dài dằng dặc: Interminably long, tediously lengthy.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "Nói dài lê thê": To speak in a long, rambling, and tedious way.
  • Đừng nói dài lê thê nữa, hãy đi thẳng vào vấn đề. (Don't ramble on anymore, get straight to the point.)
• "Ngày tháng lê thê": Protracted, slow-passing days (often implying boredom or waiting).
  • Những ngày tháng lê thê trong bệnh viện thật khó chịu. (The long, dragging days in the hospital were unpleasant.)

adj

1. dragging; trailing
   • dài lê thê
     very long